‘We have been neglected’ – Abuja farmers

Farmers have turned this land that will otherwise lay dormant into an agriculturally productive one. It has many sections of banana plantation, sugar cane, rice, vegetables, maize among other crops.This reporter who went through this long stretch of land,  reports that farmers expressed dismay over lack of assistance in terms of agro inputs by all […]

Farmers have turned this land that will otherwise lay dormant into an agriculturally productive one. It has many sections of banana plantation, sugar cane, rice, vegetables, maize among other crops.
This reporter who went through this long stretch of land,  reports that farmers expressed dismay over lack of assistance in terms of agro inputs by all tiers of government in the FCT.
Bala Gona, is one of the farmers. He said that he has been farming in the area for over 20 years producing maize, banana, and vegetables, which he sells in the FCT. “I have never received any input from the government. They even came here recently and wrote over 30 names for fertilizer, but as I am speaking with you now, nobody got anything. Come back here after Sallah and ask all the farmers, they will tell you the same thing,” Gona stressed.
He was clearing the plot in preparation for dry season farming near the National Mosque. “It is through this same farming here that my brother went to school and later joined the army. It is really helping us but we have to go to the market to buy every agro input we use,” Bala lamented.
Mati Taila spoke of the challenges he faces farming in the city centre. “You know everything in Abuja is expensive. What you will get cheap elsewhere will be expensive here including labour. Five young men are working for me tilling the soil where I will plant maize and other vegetables for the dry season.
“We have been neglected,” Taila stressed. “They will come and write our names but we buy fertilizer in the market.” He pointed out that he did not receive any assistance from any government.  He urges the Federal Capital Territory Administration to assist them with farming inputs such as fertilizer, improved seeds and generators which will help them during the dry season farming.
“You can see the rice we are growing here. Even this banana, you have to apply fertilizer and water it during the dry season otherwise it will die.” Mati said
He said those officials who come to write their names for fertilizer used the list to get the product from government and then divert the commodity to the market. It is in the market that they now buy what was meant for them at subsidized rate. “They make money with our names,” he said.
At Wuse Zone 3, some vegetable farmers whose stories are those of voiceless farmers in Abuja, said that when it comes to receiving farm inputs, they only hear it on radio or watch it on television.
“May be we are not important farmers,” Haruna Danjuma said. Speaking in an angry tone, he recounts how many officials visited them in their farms and took down their names in the name of getting them fertilizer. “At the end what happens” he asked, “nothing” he said.
Danjuma opined that they produce most of the vegetables consumed in the city, adding, “from here (Zone 3) to Masallaci (National Mosque) we farm different products and they are consumed here in Abuja. We don’t take it to market anywhere.”
Chairman of vegetable farmers association of Zone 3 who spoke through one of his members, Idris Ibrahim said their major challenge is how to access agro inputs from the government. He stressed that they have made several efforts but nothing has happened.
“We are contributing to crop production in our little way and so we should be helped just as other farmers elsewhere are benefiting.” Ibrahim said.
Answering questions on whether government collects money from them on the land, Idris said no government official has asked them to pay anything over the land they use, adding, “if they can help us with inputs we can produce crops abundantly all year round.”
Effort to see the FCT Secretary of Agriculture, Mrs Olvade Madayi for comment on the issue failed. When this reporter visited her office, officials in the office insisted that the reporter require special accreditation from the FCT Administration to be able to reach her for comments on such public matters.